Sure Start 'harms children who need it most'

The government's flagship scheme to improve the lives of deprived families could be doing more harm than good, researchers warned today.

While the £3bn Sure Start programme is benefiting some poor families, the most deprived families did worse in areas covered by the scheme, according to the study.

The research warned that the adverse effects of the scheme "might have greater consequences for society than the beneficial effects" because the poorest families account disproportionately for social problems such as crime and school disruption.

The study, by Birbeck College, University of London, and the national Sure Start evaluation team, found the scheme, which offers services to more than 660,000 children in England, was setting back the behaviour and development of young children in the most deprived households.

The study found children of these families, which include teenage mothers, lone parents and unemployed households, performed worse in Sure Start areas in terms of verbal ability and social skills.

But moderately deprived families fared better under the scheme, with non-teenage mothers exhibiting better parenting skills and children displaying greater social skills.

The researchers believe that moderately deprived families may be more ready to take advantage of Sure Start services, leaving the most deprived with fewer resources and less access to support.

The most alienated families might also find the extra attention of Sure Start programmes "stressful and intrusive", said the report.

Published in the British Medical Journal, the study compared families in 150 Sure Start communities with families in 50 areas of similar deprivation.

The researchers stressed that more families benefited than were negatively affected by the programme. They also warned that the results should be treated with caution and the scheme needed further evaluation.

But the findings mirror those of the first major national evaluation of the scheme, published in December.

The study will come as a blow to the government, which last week launched national Sure Start month.

The children's minister, Beverley Hughes, said many Sure Start programmes were successfully helping the most vulnerable children and families.

The Sure Start programme was set up in 1999 to improve the health and development of socially deprived families with young children. It offers families with children under the age of four a mix of childcare, parental support and a range of health and educational services.

The government plans to expand the current 848 Sure Start children's centres to 3,500 by 2010, the equivalent of one centre for every community.